i am in the process of having my son transition from pre-school to kinder. the supervisor of special ed for kindergarten in my area feels very strongly that he should be placed in a self-contained kinder class in sept. her reasoning is that because he is coming from such a small class size (10 kids), putting him in a mainstream class of 18-22 would not be a good idea. she is the only one, by the way, who feels he should be put into this type of class. his therapists and neuro. all feel he should be mainstreamed with support (preferably an aide). so i call and ask her to give me a tour of these self-contained classes she is thinking about. not because i would even consider it but because i needed to back up why i'm turning down the placement. i couldn't believe what she thought would be right for my son. now, this woman has never met my child. she can only go by evaluations and test scores in his file. before we even entered the class of 14-1-1 (we went to observe), she tells me there are 2 children in the class with 1 on 1 aides. 1 for medical reasons and 1 for "severe behavioral problems". WHAT!!!!!!! my son may have some challenges but behavior has never been a problem for him. he is a very compliant child. "a pleasure to have in class" according to his last eval by his pre-school teacher.

ok, so here is my question: who has the ultimate say in where he is placed. i was under the impression it would be me, but she was pretty adamant in giving me the impression it was the board that decides. isn't "least restrictive environment" their obligation to my child.

he was recently tested and his scores all came back average to above average range. his biggest deficit is the abilty to carry on conversation. he is able to make friends in the park because it's mostly physical play but other situations that involve a lot of verbalization and he has a problem.

thanks for any insight.

Where I live, you can get an advocate to argue with the school system regarding placement although from what I know so far from talking to them that I ultimately have the final say, at least regarding their PDD pre-school.

The school cannot make you do anything you don't want to. Basically, they cannot proceed with an IEP (Individual Education Plan) until you sign off on it. Don't sign anything you don't feel comfortable with. Usually the Department of Mental Health in your state will help to provide you with an advocate. In my state, this is free of charge. The advocate will help you fight for your child. To answer your question, the decision is yours.

But it really makes me mad that others think they know what's best for our kids. I think that the parents are the only ones who really knows what will be best for our kids. Good luck!

-Steph

I agree with Sreph I would not sign that IEP until they agreed to what I wanted to do. If you feel your child would do better in the regular classroom with his peers then that is where they have to put him. Then they also have to make ant adaptations for him that you seem nesceesary! I hope that it all works out well for you.

Soory about that it was Steph's comment tht a agreed with my typing is awful! :)

thanks for the replies. i thought i would have the right to make SOME decisions about where my child is placed. EI and CPSE have been so generous and open with all the therapies and proper placements thus far, but apparently, it's a whole different ball game when kids become "school age" (5).

i just don't understand why they would want to keep a child in special ed when there is potential to be mainstreamed. i have been soooo stressed the last few months about all this. my meeting is sometime in june.

I'm in a similar situation. My son will be starting Kindergarten this fall. I had two choices - and they were mine to make: Put him in a regular public school classroom where he would go a full day and have support - Special ed, speech, OT & PT, or put him in a special autism program that was just described to me as very restrictive and that he wouldn't really have much contact with "typical" kids. It would be academic based - maybe more like ABA style. My son just finished preschool and did quite well for the most part. He will need support, but his preschool teacher, special ed teacher AND the therapist that diagnosed him at Children's Hospital all believe he would be better off in a regular classroom with typical kids. I have a meeting with his current Special Ed teacher and the new Special ed teachers at his new school on Thursday and we will be discussing his situation.

Basically, my son's schedule looks like this: Kindergarten from 8am-3pm and once per week he will be pulled out of class for speech therapy, and once per week for OT. I also may try to get some bahavioral therapy as well.

The best thing to do is to make phonecalls and talk to the coordinator/teacher, and even better to visit the schools and see first hand what the programs are like. The more information you have, the clearer the choice will be. Good luck!